Day 6- Samurai
I did it. I know it’s late, ignore that.
I was gonna do a cool au for this, but then I realized that I don't have that in me, especially after this week.
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Shiro
Shiro had always wanted a sibling.
While growing up, his imaginary friends were imaginary brothers and sisters to keep him company.
And obviously, when a scrawny feral little child steals your car, what else are you gonna do that adopt him?
Keith might deny it furiously, but they're both growing on each other. Shiro knows this because the other day, the boy sat down next to him on his bed instead of reading in the kitchen. Before, Keith would hurry out of the room just at the sight of him.
Right now, Shiro is watching Keith slam his fists into a punching bag. He has his thumbs tucked in, and he's lucky his punch looks weak, or else the child prodigy pilot would find himself with 2 broken thumbs.
(Side note: as soon as I typed that out, I was like, 'that sounds like saying that I've heard before.' Is it? No, it's not, I just saw a bunch of pictures of broken thumbs. Back to the thing now.)
Shiro walks over to his desert child and places a heavy hand on his shoulder. He jolts and does a (kind of adorable) little hop into the air. When he whips around, his mop of hair flies with him and smacks into his face. He sputters a bit to get the black strands out of his mouth before clawing it all out of face and eying Shiro.
Shiro is kind enough to pretend he didn't see any of that.
"Don't tuck your thumbs in, kid, you're gonna get hurt." Shiro smiles kindly and Keith's shoulders slump a bit from their rigid posture. "Also, what are you doing with your arms? You're not trying to hug the bag, you want to hit it."
They reach a middle ground like that. Keith finally accepts Shiro through the combat lessons, and Shiro finally has his little brother.
After a couple years, they move on to weapons. Keith is taught how to use a knife, and then a sword (even though it's a bit impractical in Shiro's mind) and Keith picks it up so smoothly it seems like he's been using a blade his whole life.
"You're doing great, Samurai."
Keith pauses his training to raise an eyebrow at Shiro. "Samurai? You mean those tall dudes with the funky hats and the cool swords? Aren't ninja's cooler though?"
Shiro sighs dramatically. "Oh you poor, uncultured child. Ninjas were warriors of evil, Samurais were protector and fought for good. Obviously."
Keith shrugs and goes back to his slashing.
Shiro can already tell Keith's going to be a wonderful Samurai when he's older.
2. Hunk
Hunk is used to people warming up to him immediately. He smiles and people open up fairly fast. (People who are not Iverson, but that guy deserves to be called some rude words that Hunk will not be using at this moment. Lance will do it for him.)
Keith does not open up to him. In fact, he seems to see Hunk's grin as a flashing 'danger' sign.
Hunk does not let this discourage him. Keith reminds him of a skittish cat, the way he creeps around and startles when others approach him.
Hunk wakes up early that morning as he always does to make breakfast. However, this time he finds Keith sitting on the kitchen counter with his legs swinging to the rhythm he's humming. Yes, Keith is humming. Hunk is surprised too.
He stops at the doorway and says a soft, "hi" so that Keith will notice him.
Keith stops humming and stares him down. He looks uncertain, and moves to hop off the counter.
Wait. Wait no. Keith is leaving. Hunk is about to miss his chance to bond with Keith and Keith will hate him forever and probably stop eating Hunk's cooking and he's gonna cry if that happens.
"Wait, stop, NO!" Hunk yells without realizing is, and Keith is staring at him with wide eyes. It reminds him of when he caught his little brother stealing an extra cookie from the baking tray. Keith has the same vaguely terrified yet defensive look on his face.
Hunk flushes nervously. "Oh, sorry man. I just meant you can stay there if you want. You look comfy, and I have plenty of space to cook.
Keith's strangely colored eyes are fixed on him. It's unsettling, but Hunk sees this as a kind of Keith ritual, and he's scared that if he moves, Keith will bolt.
Lance would laugh so hard if he saw Hunk right now.
After about 30 seconds, Keith nods and starts swinging his feet again. He turns his head to stare absently at the fridge.
Hunk grabs ingredients for the morning’s meal in awkward silence. Is Keith going to start humming again? Because Hunk has the clawing urge to say something, but will that annoy his… (companion? Friend? Teammate? Unintentional castle-sharer/occasional co-couch sitter?)
So he does the only rational thing a person can do in this situation.
He starts humming ‘Here comes the sun’ and swings his hips around exaggeratedly as he walks. He feels Keith’s eyes burning holes into his back.
Oh no, Hunk really hopes Lance isn’t right about Keith being mean, he does not want to get judged right now.
Instead, he hears a tiny giggle.
He turns to see Keith with a hand slapped over his mouth.
They eye each other for a long moment before Hunk starts laughing his guts out.
Seriously. he feels kind of nauseous.
But it’s completely worth it, because Keith starts giggling again, and those turn into giant cackles.
They both laugh together until they forget why they started in the first place.
Of course, Allura crosses that moment to walk in. She chooses takes one look at the two of them with tears streaming down their faces and turns right back around. They can hear her mutter something about ‘strange humans’ and they keep on chuckling until Hunk has to puke in the trash can.
Keith does not make a rude comment about that. In fact, he walks over to pat Hunk’s back gently.
After that, Keith goes back to his perch on the counter and Hunk takes out a knife to cut up the space-veggies.
“I can help with that? If you want.”
Keith is looking down at his feet and the tips of his ears are tinted red.
Hunk wordlessly passes him a cutting board and the knife, as well as the space equivalent to coriander.
Keith balances the board on his legs and gets cutting. At first, he fumbled while trying to cut neat pieces, but he adjusts and get the hang of it after a minute or two.
“Shiro was right,” Hunk remarks.
Keith raises a questioning eyebrow.
“He calls you Samurai, right? You’re not too bad with that knife.”
It’s hard to believe Hunk never saw this side of Keith before. His big eyes are sparkling, and he looks like a puppy being praised. (Fine, yes, Hunk likes comparing people to animals, what about it? Pidge is like an angry bunny, by the way, but don’t tell her that.)
Keith starts humming his random tune again. Hunk doesn’t join in, there’s no way he could follow along with the random pattern of notes. He’s content to have it as background noise, along with Keith’s chop chop chopping.
And regardless of however much patience it took, Hunk is glad to have this subtly sweet yet fiery person as his new friend.
A samurai indeed.
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I was gonna do everyone of the team, and then I did not. Maybe I’ll do a part 2 eventually?
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